Semiconductor device having a multi-thickness gate trench dielectric layer

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a gate trench including an upper trench and a lower trench. The upper trench is wider than the lower trench. A gate is embedded in the gate trench. The gate includes an upper portion and a lower portion. A first gate dielectric layer is between the upper portion and a sidewall of the upper trench. The first gate dielectric layer has a first thickness. A second gate dielectric layer is between the lower portion and a sidewall of the lower trench and between the lower portion and a bottom surface of the lower trench. The second gate dielectric layer has a second thickness that is smaller than the first thickness.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority from CN application No. 201710637712.8, filed Jul. 31, 2017, which is included in its entirety herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Buried wordline structures are often used in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) to reduce the influence of short channel effects to the high density memory array. For a buried wordline structure, the key is to improve quality of the gate dielectric layer and its thickness control.

The improvement of the quality of the gate dielectric layer and its thickness control are closely related to the electrical performance and control of the device. In particular, in the area of gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) and threshold voltage (Vt) control, this industry still need an effective solution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved semiconductor device and a fabrication method that solve the deficiencies of the prior art.

One embodiment of the invention discloses a semiconductor device comprising a semiconductor substrate having a gate trench comprised of an upper trench and a lower trench. The upper trench is wider than the lower trench. Agate is embedded in the gate trench. The gate includes an upper portion and a lower portion. A first gate dielectric layer is between the upper portion and a sidewall of the upper trench. The first gate dielectric layer has a first thickness. A second gate dielectric layer is between the lower portion and a sidewall of the lower trench and between the lower portion and a bottom surface of the lower trench. The second gate dielectric layer has a second thickness that is smaller than the first thickness.

Another embodiment of the invention discloses a method for fabricating a semiconductor device. A semiconductor substrate is provided. An upper trench is formed in the semiconductor substrate. A first gate dielectric layer is deposited on interior surface of the upper trench. The first gate dielectric layer has a first thickness. The first gate dielectric layer and the semiconductor substrate are anisotropically etched, thereby forming a lower trench in a self-aligned manner. The upper trench and the lower trench constitute a gate trench. A second gate dielectric layer is thermally grown on interior surface of the lower trench. The second gate dielectric layer has a second thickness, and the second thickness is less than the first thickness.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 show a method for fabricating a semiconductor device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following, the details will be described with reference to the drawings, the contents of which also form part of the description of the specification and are illustrated in the specific examples in which the embodiment can be practiced. The following examples have described sufficient details to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to practice this invention.

Of course, other embodiments may be adopted, or any structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the embodiments described herein. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the examples contained therein are to be defined by the appended claims.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor device 1 includes a semiconductor substrate 10, for example, a silicon substrate, but is not limited thereto. The semiconductor substrate 10 has a top surface 10 a. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the top surface 10 a may be formed by a hard mask layer, but not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a gate trench 200 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 10. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a P-type region 101 and an N-type region 102 may be formed in the semiconductor substrate 10. For example, the P-type region 101 may be a P well and the N-type region 102 may be an N⁺ drain doped region or an N⁺ source doped region, but is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate trench 200 includes an upper trench 210 and a lower trench 220. The width w₁ of the upper trench 210 is wider than the width w₂ of the lower trench 220. In FIG. 1, it can be seen that the depth d₁ of the upper trench 210 is approximately equal to the junction of the P-type region 101 and the N-type region 102, but not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the depth of the lower trench 220 is further from the position of the depth d₁ of the upper trench 210 by a distance d₂, so that the depth of the lower trench 220 is d₁+d₂. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the lower trench 220 is located in the P-type region 101 and is located below the bottom of the N-type region 102.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, from the bottom of the upper trench 210, connected to the lower trench 220, there may be a transitional trench structure 230 tapered from the width w₁ to the width w₂.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor device 1 further comprises a gate 300 embedded in the gate trench 200. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 includes an upper portion 310 and a lower portion 320. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 includes a top surface 300 a lower than the top surface 10 a of the semiconductor substrate 10 to form a recessed region 400.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the top surface 300 a of the gate 300 is covered by a cap layer 410. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cap layer 410 fills the recessed region 400 above the top surface 300 a of the gate 300. For example, the cap layer 410 may be a silicon nitride layer, but not limited thereto. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cap layer 410 has a top surface 400 a that is flush with the top surface 10 a of the semiconductor substrate 10.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 has substantially the same width w in the gate trench 200. That is, the width of the upper portion 310 is substantially equal to the width of the lower portion 320.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor device 1 further comprises a first gate dielectric layer 510 disposed between the upper portion 310 and the sidewalls of the upper trench 210. The first gate dielectric layer 510 has a first thickness t₁. For example, the first thickness t₁ is between 60 angstroms and 80 angstroms.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor device 1 further comprises a second gate dielectric layer 520 disposed between the lower portion 320 and the sidewalls of the lower trench 220. The second gate dielectric layer 520 has a second thickness t₂, and the second thickness t₂ is less than the first thickness t₁. For example, the second thickness t₂ is between 40 angstroms and 60 angstroms. According to an embodiment of the invention, the second thickness t₂ of the second gate dielectric layer 520 may include a transitional thickness 530 corresponding to the aforementioned transitional trench structure 230 decreasing from the first thickness t₁ to the first thickness t₁.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric layer 510 includes an atomic layer deposition (ALD) silicon oxide layer and the second gate dielectric layer 520 includes an in-situ steam generation (ISSG) silicon oxide layer. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric layer 510 includes a sidewall surface 510 a vertically aligned with a sidewall surface 520 a of the second gate dielectric layer 520.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 may comprise a tungsten layer 301 and a titanium nitride (TiN) liner layer 302, wherein the TiN liner layer 302 is interposed between the tungsten layer 301 and the first gate dielectric layer 510 and between the tungsten layer 301 and the second gate dielectric layer 520.

The semiconductor device 1 of the present invention can be used in a dynamic random access memory as a buried wordline, wherein the first gate dielectric layer 510 is relatively thicker and can improve gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL). The second gate dielectric layer 520 formed by the in-situ steam generation (ISSG) process is a high-quality silicon dioxide layer whose thickness can be controlled within the desired target range to improve the threshold voltage control problem.

Please refer to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5, which illustrate a method of fabricating a semiconductor device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, a semiconductor substrate 10, such as a silicon substrate, is provided, but not limited thereto. The semiconductor substrate 10 has a top surface 10 a. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a P-type region 101 and an N-type region 102 may be formed in the semiconductor substrate 10. For example, the P-type region 101 may be a P well, and the N-type region 102 may be an N⁺ drain doped region or an N⁺ source doped region, but is not limited thereto.

Next, an upper trench 210 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 by photolithography and etching processes. The upper trench 210 has a width w₁. Next, a first gate dielectric layer 510 is conformally deposited on the interior surface of the upper trench 210. For example, the first gate dielectric layer 510 may be a silicon dioxide layer deposited by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, but is not limited thereto. The first gate dielectric layer 510 has a first thickness t₁. For example, the first thickness t₁ is between 60 angstroms and 80 angstroms.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first gate dielectric layer 510 is then anisotropically etched, and after the first gate dielectric layer 510 is etched through, the etching is continued to etch the semiconductor substrate so as to form a lower trench 220 that is self aligned with the first gate dielectric layer 510. The upper trench 210 and the lower trench 220 constitute a gate trench 200.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the lower trench 220 has a width w₂, wherein the width w₁ of the upper trench 210 is wider than the width w₂ of the lower trench 220. In FIG. 3, it can be seen that the depth d₁ of the upper trench 210 is approximately at the junction between the P-type region 101 and the N-type region 102, but is not limited thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the depth of the lower trench 220 is further from the position of the depth d₁ of the upper trench 210 by a distance d₂, so that the depth of the lower trench 220 is d₁+d₂. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the lower trench 220 is located in the P-type region 101 and is located below the bottom of the N-type region 102.

As shown in FIG. 4, a second gate dielectric layer 520 is then thermally grown from the interior surface of the lower trench 220 by an in-situ steam generation (ISSG) process. The second gate dielectric layer 520 has a second thickness t₂, and the second thickness t₂ is less than the first thickness t₁. For example, the second thickness t₂ is between 40 angstroms and 60 angstroms.

In addition, the aforementioned ISSG process can further improve the film quality of the first gate dielectric layer 510. For example, defects in the first gate dielectric layer 510 can be repaired or structurally denser. In some embodiments, the thickness of the first gate dielectric layer 510 may increase slightly after the above-described ISSG process.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, from the bottom of the upper trench 210, connected to the lower trench 220, there may be a transitional trench structure 230 tapered from the width w₁ to the width w₂. The second thickness t₂ of the second gate dielectric layer 520 may include a transitional thickness 530 corresponding to the aforementioned transitional trench structure 230 decreasing from the first thickness t₁ to the first thickness t₁.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first gate dielectric layer 510 comprises a sidewall surface 510 a vertically aligned with a sidewall surface 520 a of the second gate dielectric layer 520.

As shown in FIG. 5, a gate 300 is formed in the gate trench 200. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 may comprise a tungsten layer 301 and a titanium nitride (TiN) liner layer 302, wherein the TiN liner layer 302 is interposed between the tungsten layer 301 and the first gate dielectric layer 510 and between the tungsten layer 301 and the second gate dielectric layer 520.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 is embedded in the gate trench 200. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 includes an upper portion 310 and a lower portion 320. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 includes a top surface 300 a lower than the top surface 10 a of the semiconductor substrate 10 to form a recessed region 400.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the top surface 300 a of the gate 300 is covered by a cap layer 410. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cap layer 410 fills the recessed region 400 above the top surface 300 a of the gate 300. For example, the cap layer 410 may be a silicon nitride layer, but not limited thereto. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cap layer 410 has a top surface 400 a that is flush with the top surface 10 a of the semiconductor substrate 10.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the gate 300 has a uniform width w through the depth the depth of the gate trench 200. That is, the width of the upper portion 310 is substantially equal to the width of the lower portion 320.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor device, comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a gate trench comprised of an upper trench and a lower trench, wherein the upper trench is wider than the lower trench; a gate embedded in the gate trench, wherein the gate comprises an upper portion and a lower portion; a first gate dielectric layer between the upper portion and the upper trench, wherein the first gate dielectric layer has a first thickness; and a second gate dielectric layer between the lower portion and the lower trench, wherein the second gate dielectric layer has a second thickness that is smaller than the first thickness, wherein the gate comprises a tungsten layer and TiN liner layer, wherein the TiN liner layer is disposed between the tungsten layer and the first gate dielectric layer and between the tungsten layer and the second gate dielectric layer.
 2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the gate has a uniform width throughout depth of the gate trench.
 3. The semiconductor device according to claim 2, wherein the upper portion of the gate has a width that is equal to that of the lower portion of the gate.
 4. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the gate trench has a trench width gradually decreased from its top to its bottom.
 5. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first gate dielectric layer comprises an atomic layer deposition (ALD) silicon oxide layer.
 6. The semiconductor device according to claim 5, wherein the first thickness ranges between 60 and 80 angstroms.
 7. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second gate dielectric layer comprises an in-situ steam generation (ISSG) silicon oxide layer.
 8. The semiconductor device according to claim 7, wherein the second thickness ranges between 40 and 60 angstroms.
 9. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first gate dielectric layer comprises a surface that is aligned with a surface of the second gate dielectric layer. 